Four Italian industry-wide pension funds have teamed up, this time to create the first consortium to support the domestic economy through public equity investments in small and medium-sized firms based in Italy.
Fondo Gomma Plastica, Foncer, Fondo Pegaso and Previmoda are looking to hire an asset manager for at least seven years to hand out a number of mandates to invest €82m in mid and small-cap equities in Italy, the schemes announced today.
Specifically, Foncer will invest €12m, Fondo Gamma Plastica €30m, Pegaso €20m and Previmoda €20m, through their ‘Bilanciato’ sub-funds to build up a diversified portfolio of listed Italian SMEs, the backbone of Italy’s economy.
The schemes will pick up an asset manager specialised in small and mid-cap equity investments through Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS), with total assets under management of at least €200m, and that is a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investments.
The manager will invest assets directly in SMEs based in Italy, with a current capitalisation in the range of €150m-€2bn, excluding companies in the financial sector, and in UCITS, according to the tender notice.
The pension fund quartet is creating a consortium for public equity allocations to benefit from tax breaks at mandate level, with a view to strengthening engagement with portfolio companies, also through ESG adviser Prometeia Advisor Sim.
The public equity investment project, called PMI Italia (SMEs Italy), follows in the footsteps of other consortia created by Italian pension schemes to channel capital towards the real economy, of a fund of funds launched by the Italian government to invest capital raised from first pillar pension schemes in small caps listed on the domestic stock exchange, and amid an investigation of a parliamentary committee pressing schemes to do more to support the domestic economy.
Fondo Gomma Plastica, Pegaso and Previmoda have already teamed up to invest in private markets through private equity funds under the so-called Project Iris (Progetto Iride), and through private debt funds under Project Zephyr (Progetto Zefiro).
The schemes have invested in private markets alongside Fopen, the pension fund for the employees of energy company Enel, the scheme for the employees of the ceramic and refractory materials industries Foncer, and Fondenergia, the pension fund for workers in Italy’s energy sector.
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